FACTS ABOUT WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS     5/95

*    Women business owners are starting businesses at twice the
     rate of their male counterparts.  (Source: SBA)

*    Women employ 11 million workers, more than the Fortune 500
     worldwide.  (Source: National Foundation for Women Business
     Owners)

*    Between the 1982 and 1987 Economic Census, women-owned
     businesses increased 57.5 percent from 2.6 million to 4.1
     million.  As of 1987, women-owned firms generated over $278
     billion in sales and had a payroll of nearly $41 billion.

*    It is projected that by the year 2000 women will own 40
     percent of all businesses.

*    1987 Census:  Nearly 400,000 businesses are owned and
     operated by women of color.

     *    158,000 African American women-owned firms
     *    115,000 Hispanic women-owned firms
     *    112,000 Asian/Pacific women-owned firms
     *      6,000 Native American/Alaska Native women-owned firms

Despite great accomplishments, women still face barriers.

*    As of the 1987 Census:  Women-owned businesses represented
     30 percent of all businesses but received only 14 percent of
     business receipts.

*    Women-owned firms vary greatly in size.  While some are
     among the largest and most successful in the country,
     average receipts are modest and continue to lag
     substantially behind male-owned firms.  Though average
     receipts of all women-owned firms grew by 183 percent
     between 1982 and 1987 - from $37,622 to $67,595 -- average
     receipts of male-owned firms in 1987 were substantially
     higher.  In the area of sole proprietorships, the most
     common form of business ownership for both men and women,
     the average receipts for non-farm sole proprietorships were
     $17, 889 as compared with $54,594 for those owned by men.

*    Two-thirds of women business owners report problems in
     working with financial institutions and rely to a great
     extent on credit card to finance their enterprises.

*    Business opportunities in the private public sector are
     usually less available to women-owned business.  Less than
     two percent of federal government prime contracts currently
     go to women.